O, Brother

MISTAKEN FOR STRANGERS (B) - A meta-movie, a B-movie, a movie within a movie about making a movie.

Matt Berninger, the lead singer for the great American band The National, invited his shlubby younger brother Tom along on tour as a roadie, and Tom, a frustrated filmmaker, shot footage. The result is a dumb, charming story about a Loser Kid Brother struggling to assert his obnoxious, yet sweet, identity and create his own work of art.

The National, shown circa 2010, are just emerging as an indie powerhouse. Interestingly, the rest of the band consists of two pairs of brothers. (There are the classically trained songwriters the Dessners and the rhythm section, the Devendorfs.) Poor Tom Berninger -- rumpled, pudgy, with a scraggly beard and stringy hair -- seems daunted by that combination of kinship and hipster rock stardom.

Berninger leaves in some funny little scenes, such as the establishing or set-up shots in which he asks his interview subjects to pose or look pensive in classic documentary style. He asks goofy questions, like whether the band members carry their wallets on stage. He also is unabashed about trafficking in cheesy stoner humor. He catalogs his own series of fuck-ups that would have gotten him fired if he wasn't related to the star of the show. He goes home to interview their mother, who seems sincere when she tells Tom that he has always shown more creative proclivities than Matt, mainly as a talented visual artist. The climax of the film involves his efforts to edit his footage into a coherent product (assisted by Matt's wife).

We're teased with only snippets of The National's music, but then, this ain't "Stop Making Sense." This is an imagining of what might have happened if Beavis or Butt-head grew up and hit the road with the band. It's an extended therapy session about family dynamics, pop-culture fame and jumbled creative dreams. The movie has plenty of laughs, but the final scene, shot during a rollicking encore, catches in the throat a bit, as we get a fleeting glimpse of the soul of a baby brother.

BONUS TRACK
In the hands of a real documentary filmmaker, the legendary D.A. Pennebaker, capturing the epic "Mr. November" live at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2010: